The ‘Gen-Z Stare’ Is Tormenting Business Owners. Here’s How to Turn It Into Positive Change
The ‘Gen-Z Stare’ Is Tormenting Business Owners. Here’s How to Turn It Into Positive Change
Cultural habits shift from generation to generation, and a notable Gen-Z social trait may actually be our fault.
Photo: Getty Images
Gen-Z’s workplace habits somehow keep returning to the spotlight—from being the “toolbelt generation” to “quiet thriving” to oversharing personal information. But the latest aspect of Gen-Z behavior that’s captured everyone’s attention might qualify as the strangest and, to some people, one of the more challenging, traits some young workers exhibit. We’re talking about the deadpan, expressionless moments in conversation that have been labelled the “Gen-Z stare.”
You’ve likely seen the behavior in question. Glamour magazine does a neat job of summarizing it, in case you haven’t: “The ‘Gen Z stare’ is an apparent tendency by young people in customer service positions to respond to innocuous statements with a blank look instead of a regular comment.” Other commenters say that Gen-Z uses this deadpan look in other situations as well, to equally unsettling effect. Some of the more pearl-clutching opinions include the notion that despite the stare not being “a raised voice, a walkout, or a protest email” when the stare happens in the workplace it’s still “driving seasoned managers to the brink,” as the Times of India contends.
Part of the heated online debate about the stare centers around the meaning of this behavior. As Business Insider notes, people who receive the stare, “i.e., non-Zoomers,” feel it’s simply “an inability to make small talk, like the brains of twentysomethings are buffering when confronted by strangers who simply want to exchange pleasantries.” Conversely, Gen-Z people who deliver the stare say it’s “the look they give people who are being stupid while waiting for them to realize they are being stupid.” It’s a classic intergenerational tussle of norms and manners, reminiscent of the Millennial/Gen-Z slur “OK, Boomer,” from a few years back.
All of this is subjective, of course. And, as one TikTok commenter noted, it may also reflect the inexperience of young people in their first jobs or possibly more self-centered thinking by Gen-Z employees. “I think it’s hilarious that Gen Z thinks they’re the first generation to ever deal with stupidity or difficult customers, and that’s how they justify the fact that they just disassociate and mindlessly stare into space,” they wrote, adding that instead they could be “immediately engaging in the situation like every other generation has ever done before them lol,” Glamour reports.
In a workplace situation, however, it’s easy to see how older generations—long trained in what they see as the right ways of being polite or courteous—would see a silent, flat stare coming from a young colleague or employee as smacking of disrespect or outright rudeness.
However, Ali Mattu, a clinical psychologist and popular social-media figure, has a different, more thoughtful take that might help you if your younger co-workers deliver a stare.
In a YouTube video on the topic, Mattu suggests that the stare isn’t a sign of being lazy or rude. Instead, it’s a version of the classic “fight, flight, or freeze” emotional response, and that “freezing in a situation is smart.” Think of how this is useful in the wild, when animals play calm in the face of conflict or danger. “In retail, in restaurant situations, staying neutral doesn’t escalate things,” he says.
Meanwhile, he says, “Gen-Z is doing the bare minimum because that’s exactly what we gave them. They inherited a terrible economy… rent is so much higher… wages are flat… and their brains were completely rewired by social media. And then you had Covid. And now you have AI that’s going to flatten everything.” The stare is simply the result of a “nervous system built through chaos.” In fact, Mattu says, “Gen-Z are just doing what Boomers did back in their day when they said ‘turn on, tune in, and drop out.’ ”
Why should you care about this? If your younger staff use the Gen-Z stare, maybe try to see it as just a passing phase, or, as Mattu suggests, you could recognize it’s just their way of saying “this system sucks, and I don’t wanna participate in it.” That might trigger you, if you’re a self-aware type of leader, to ponder if Gen-Z actually has a point. Are there parts of your workplace culture or habits that are simply broken, but no one else has had the nerve to talk about it yet?
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